Application of 3S techniques in the assessment of eco-environmental impact of the Shennongjia ski field, Hubei Province, China

The Shennongjia ski field lies at the edge of the Shennongjia nature reserves. The construction of the ski field will change the landscape pattern of the assessment district, and the production capacity and stability of the regional ecosystem in a certain degree, and will exert an influence on the ecological integrality of animal and plant habitats. This paper assesses the structure and function of the landscape ecosystem in the Niuchangpin ski field at Shennongjia, by using the theory and method of landscape ecology and 3S techniques. Through the calculation and comparison of landscape diversity indices and landscape aggregation indices, the influence imposed by the ski field project on the regional ecological integrality and relevant sensitive ecological issues is predicted. The results indicated that biomass of the natural system would decrease by 430.26 t, and correspondingly the average Net Primary Productivity would drop to 881.55 g/m2·a. The construction of the ski field would not change the matrix status of woodland and, however, it has a strong ability to control the quality of ecosystem. Combining 3S techniques with landscape-ecological theory will help turn the qualitative assessment into the quantitive one on the eco-environment impact. In this study a significant exploration has been conducted in the aspect of ecological impact assessment of construction projects.